System, method, and computer program for maintaining quality of experience for a client device on a network

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for maintaining quality of experience (QoE) for a client device on a network. In use, access points that are available to a client device are determined, based on a policy. Additionally, a current QoE provided to the client device by one of the access points utilized by the client device to access the network is determined. This QoE could be valued as a score computed by a function called QoE Metric taking QoS parameters as inputs. An expected QoE associated with each of the other access points is then determined. Further, the access point utilized by the client device to access the network is conditionally switched to one of the other access points, based on the current QoE and the expected QoEs. Additionally, any potential QoE downgrades on the current access point is detected using QoE Degradation Patterns that could be matched with current QoS measures and can encourage the client device to determine more accurately the current QoE.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising computer code for:
 determining access points that are available to a client device, based on a policy; 
 determining whether one or more quality of experience (QoE) degradation patterns are present at the client device, including:
 checking a status of a link layer of the client device to determine a plurality of applications running on the client device, and 
 applying a configuration file containing a plurality of the QoE degradation patterns to the determined plurality of applications to determine whether one or more of the plurality of the QoE degradation patterns are present; and 
 
 upon determining that one or more quality of experience (QoE) degradation patterns are present at the client device:
 determining a current QoE provided to the client device by one of the access points utilized by the client device to access a network; 
 determining an expected QoE associated with each of the other access points; and 
 conditionally switching the access point utilized by the client device to access the network to one of the other access points, based on the current QoE and the expected QoEs. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The computer program of  claim 1 , wherein the expected QoE for each access point is a subjective parameter representing a quality of service (QoS) associated with the network as expected to be perceived by a user of the client device when connected to the access point. 
     
     
       3. The computer program of  claim 2 , wherein the expected QoE is determined from an evaluation of a predefined QoE metric, and wherein the predefined QoE metric is an objective function that takes as input at least one QoS value measured based on operation of the access point. 
     
     
       4. The computer program of  claim 3 , wherein a server performs the evaluation of the predefined QoE metric to determine the expected QoE for each of the other access points, and wherein the client device determines the expected QoE for each of the other access points by receiving the expected QoEs from the server. 
     
     
       5. The computer program of  claim 4 , wherein the server performs the evaluation of the predefined QoE metric by collecting QoS information measured by all client devices connected to the access points and reported to the server. 
     
     
       6. The computer program of  claim 1 , wherein the policy indicates at least one trigger for determining the access points that are available to the client device. 
     
     
       7. The computer program of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one trigger occurs in response to identification that a location of the client device has changed. 
     
     
       8. The computer program of  claim 6 , wherein the at least one trigger occurs at a periodic interval. 
     
     
       9. The computer program of  claim 1 , wherein the current QoE is determined from an evaluation of a predefined QoE metric, and wherein the predefined QoE metric is an objective function that takes as input at least one QoS value measured based on operation of the client device. 
     
     
       10. The computer program of  claim 9 , wherein the client device performs the evaluation of the predefined QoE metric to determine the current QoE. 
     
     
       11. The computer program of  claim 1 , wherein the policy is included in a configuration file provided to the client device, such that the determination of access points that are available to the client device is performed by the client device. 
     
     
       12. The computer program of  claim 1 , wherein the configuration file includes a script. 
     
     
       13. The computer program of  claim 1 , wherein the current QoE is a subjective parameter representing a quality of service (QoS) associated with the network as expected to be perceived by a user of the client device. 
     
     
       14. The computer program of  claim 1 , wherein the access point utilized by the client device to access the network is switched to the one of the other access points when the expected QoE for the one of the other access points is greater than the current QoE. 
     
     
       15. The computer program of  claim 1 , wherein the network is a heterogeneous network, and the access points are located across sub-networks of the heterogeneous network. 
     
     
       16. A system, comprising:
 a hardware processor for: 
 determining whether one or more quality of experience (QoE) degradation patterns are present at the client device, including:
 checking a status of a link layer of the client device to determine a plurality of applications running on the client device, and 
 applying a configuration file containing a plurality of the QoE degradation patterns to the determined plurality of applications to determine whether one or more of the plurality of the QoE degradation patterns are present; and 
 
 upon determining that one or more quality of experience (QoE) degradation patterns are present at the client device:
 determining a current QoE provided to the client device by one of the access points utilized by the client device to access a network; 
 determining an expected QoE associated with each of the other access points; and 
 conditionally switching the access point utilized by the client device to access the network to one of the other access points, based on the current QoE and the expected QoEs. 
 
 
     
     
       17. The system of  claim 16 , wherein the processor is coupled to memory via a bus. 
     
     
       18. A method, comprising:
 determining whether one or more quality of experience (QoE) degradation patterns are present at the client device, including:
 checking a status of a link layer of the client device to determine a plurality of applications running on the client device, and 
 applying a configuration file containing a plurality of the QoE degradation patterns to the determined plurality of applications to determine whether one or more of the plurality of the QoE degradation patterns are present; and 
 
 upon determining that one or more quality of experience (QoE) degradation patterns are present at the client device:
 determining a current QoE provided to the client device by one of the access points utilized by the client device to access a network; 
 determining an expected QoE associated with each of the other access points; and 
 
 conditionally switching the access point utilized by the client device to access the network to one of the other access points, based on the current QoE and the expected QoEs.